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Earth Night: Make an Impact While You Sleep

April 22nd marks the 43rd official Earth Day! World-wide, individuals and communities are “going green” to highlight the ever-growing issue of climate change.

Here at BU, there are campus efforts in place to reduce our environmental impact, like Sustainability@BU and the 2013 Earth Day Festival on Thursday, April 18th (psst! We’ll be there!).

But you don’t have to go out of your way to save the planet—you can actually do it while you sleep! Choose one (or all!) of these tips and practice safe & sustainable sleep tonight:

Turn off and unplug your computer (or other electronic devices) about half an hour before bed.Why waste electricity when you’re not even using it? Plus the light from these devices also disrupts your body’s sleep pattern by suppressing the hormone that tells your brain it’s time to sleep.

Dial down the thermostat.Sleeping in a cool environment (with or without blankets) allows heat to leave your body, resulting in more quality zzz’s. Don’t put more heat into the environment! We have enough already.

Invest in bedding made from natural or organic fabrics.The costs are comparable to other bedding, but BONUS: they are free of pesticides, which benefits you and the ol’ planet.

Use a hypoallergenic pillow case.
Not only will it put some space between you and the pillow feathers, but it keeps dust mites out of the picture. This means: Fewer allergies, fewer chemicals released by the bugs’ droppings (yup, you sleep in that stuff), and fewer sleep disturbances.

SPREAD THE HEALTH: This week, try one of our sustainable sleep tips to ease into earth-friendly habits.

Get a sleep kit on us!Enter our giveaway and you could win a sleep kit that includes an eye mask, ear plugs, Sleepy Time tea, aromatherapy sachet, and Goodnight Comm Ave booklet!

There are THREE ways to enter the giveaway: (1) Share this blog post on Facebook or Twitter and tag/mention us (2) Leave a comment below telling us how you make an impact when you sleep (3) Tweet at us or comment on our Facebook page answering the same question.

The more you do, the more times your name will be entered. We will pick one winner on April 26, 2013 using Random.org. This giveaway is open to Boston University students only. Good luck!